How can you optimize performance with 3 gigs of ram? Paging files? Custom size? Separate drives?

Question

I have win xp pro. sp3.
I have two separate partitions (C:) and (D:).
The C drive that contains the OS has 35GB capacity.
The D drive has 200GB capacity, which I use for storage.

I upgraded from 1GB to 3GB.
Under CONTROL PANEL> SYSTEM> ADVANCED> PERFORMANCE> SETTINGS and in PERFORMANCE OPTIONS, Processor scheduling: Programs
Memory Usage: Systems cache
Virtual Memory Total Paging file size for all drives: 6142MB.

So the question is, how should the paging files be set?
When I click on change, this information is set as follows:
(C:) has Space Available(10376MB) and is 'System Managed Size'
(D:) has Space Available(127974MB) and is 'System Managed Size'
Minimum Allowed: 2MB
Recommended: 4606MB
Currently Allocated: 6142MB

I heard several options where I can set 'No Paging File' on both drives. I also heard about having paging files on the (D:) only. Some told me to set a specified custom size where the initial size and maximum size should be the same on (D:), while another told me to do that to the (C:). I don't even know what the "maximum" size is.

I don't want to waste any space (if that's even possible) and I just want to make it as efficient as possible, running fast with little strain on my desktop. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I would place the paging file on D: - but its only worth doing this if it is on an actual separate hard drive. If both C: and D: are partitons on the same hard disk then it won't make any diff on C: or D:



I also would recommend making the paging file static - i.e. make the max and min the same size. Only do this after you have defragged the disk though. The reason to keep it static is to avoid it getting fragmented due to paging file growing and shrinking and saving parts of the paging file in different locations.



With 3GB of RAM your paging file will get used very little. I would set it to the recommended size and then leave it alone.



When XP was written no-one had 3GB of RAM. This is an ultra-luxury amount as far as XP is concerned - and the paging file will be pretty much unused.



Also worth doing is to set the RAM priority to System Cache. This option is on the same control panel page you refer to in your post. Doing this ensures that the whole Windows kernel stays in RAM. This is the preferred option with anything over 500MB of RAM. It means that the windows kernel files will always be available in RAM and won't need to be read off disk or a disk cache.

Answer 2

For performance you want the paging file on the D drive only. I'm not sure about whether or not you should set the size yourself or let the computer do it automatically. If you aren't getting messages about it, I would just let the system handle it.

Answer 3

wih 3GB ram and widows xp, you're in almost no need of virtual memory space.



i would suggest setting to no paging file or keep at least 512mb in the drive where your OS is.



otherwise, just let your system set your paging size.